Major success for bC India despite challenging economic conditions

Despite challenging times, the second bC India construction equipment show proved a success

Mumbai, India’s most populous city and the fourth most populous in the world, has again delivered a successful 1260 bC India. The 688 Bauma/3485 Conexpo international trade fair for construction machinery, building material machines, mining machines and construction vehicles, was held at the Bandra Kurla Complex, and impressively strengthened its position in the Indian market despite the challenging situation in the industry.

During the event there were over 28,000 professional visitors and 710 exhibitors from 33 countries occupying 150,000m² of exhibition space.

Exhibitors, of which 437, or 61% were international, commended the high quality of the visitors.

As a result of this global interest, the show featured nine national pavilions from China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom.

“The visitor numbers are satisfying in times like this. Therefore, I hope that the success of bC India indicates a return to growth in the Indian construction market,” says Thomas Löffler, chief executive officer of the show’s organiser, bC Expo India, who looks on the results highly favourably.

As at the first such show in 2011, the high quality of the visitors as well as the organisation of the event were appreciated by the exhibitors, many of whom launched new products into the market.

“bC India is a very good show with high-quality visitors. Visibility here is extremely good. It is clean, tidy, well set-up and very well managed,” says Amit Gossain, vice president marketing and business development with 255 JCB, which says it is India’s biggest construction equipment manufacturer.
Alexander Schwoerer, managing director at German-based formwork specialist 298 PERI, says that his company “had very high-calibre visitors from all over India and held a number of good conversations with them. bC India is a great industry platform that supports our growth in India.”

Abhijeet Pai, director at crushing and screening manufacturer 7100 Puzzolana, says: “We feel that new energy is coming back to the industry, and we hope that this trade fair will showcase that. We had many visitors with very specific requirements for new solutions and some good new prospects from the international market.”

In 2011, Puzzolana Group, entered into a joint venture with MFL to roll out its first mobile crushing plant with single-toggle jaw crusher for the Indian market.

Indeed, Pai says that since 1999, when it claimed to be the first Indian manufacturer to produce a cone crusher, it has produced over 1,800 plants in India and 150 plants outside the country.

“Export is becoming a priority and we have had successes in Africa and the Middle East,” he says.

The show also proved to be an excellent platform for doing business as Brahmanand Pandey, vice president strategy and business development at 178 Caterpillar, says, “bC India is very relevant for the industry. The decision-makers are here. We closed several deals and we definitely reached our goals.”
Meanwhile, Ki Young Kong, managing dircetor with 236 Hyundai, had a similar experience, “For Hyundai, this year’s bC India was a very successful show. We were very busy, had really good customers and sold many machines.”

During the show, Hyundai Construction Equipment India launched its 210-7v excavator.

The R210-7v is equipped with mechatronics for optimised fuel consumption and productivity in the 20-22tonne class excavators.

Hyundai Construction Equipment also showcased its technologically advanced R210-9 excavator during the show in line with its plan of migration to 9 Series products.

“We have been operating in Indian market since 2007 and it is a key market for us. The range caters to the growing needs of the customers in various applications and markets in Indian CE space,” says Ki Young Kong.

Dheeraj Panda, head marketing and key account management, added: “As per our study of the market, the 20-22tonne class of excavators captures about 50% of the total pie of the Indian market. Hence through the launch of the R210-7v and R210-9, we aim to provide a wider range to our customers in this segment.
“Last year we touched the mark of 2,400 machines across various segments with a growth rate of 23-24%.”

Hyundai Construction Equipment also plans to add more touch points to ensure quicker response to customer queries by way of additional 3S (sales, service and parts) offices through its dealers.

176 Case Construction Equipment saw the show as an ideal opportunity to introduce to the Indian market a number of new models including its F Series wheeled loader and B Series motor grader.

The two new loaders, the 721F and 821F, run an FPT Industrial 6.7litre Tier 3 engine, while the Case four-mode programmable power control offers Economy, Standard, Auto and Max settings, said to provide operators with increased flexibility when matching the engine output for each task.

“Case India is expanding its offering for the Indian construction industry with the introduction of the technologically advanced F Series wheeled loaders as well as the new B Series motor graders. We are completing our well-established vibratory compactors range.

We are committed to using the best technology and manufacturing practices in order to deliver an increasingly broad offering of high quality products and reduce our customers’ ownership and operating costs,” says Anil Bhatia, director sales and marketing, Case India.

The Case B series motor graders are already successfully sold in the Americas as well as in Africa, the Middle East and Russia.
They also feature an FPT Industrial 6.7litre engine with triple horsepower ranges on the 865B model and dual horsepower on the 845B to match the power requirements of various applications.

The company also launched the first major product upgrade by Case in India with the introduction of a water-cooled engine on its 9tonne Case 752 tandem vibratory compactor.

Linnhoff India was also toasting success after notching up the sale of its first hot recycling plant with coal burner, a Lintec CSD3000, to Varaha Infra.

The 200tonnes/hour bituminous plant can be installed in 15-20 days without any foundations work.

Nawa Group company, NRG Engineers and Equipments, launched a new radial stacker conveyor, RS 2670, which it says can be utilised for the stockpiling of large quantities of materials in crushing plants. It is said to offer a total stockpile capacity of up to 1,200tonnes. The company also launched the SRM 300 cone crusher.

269 LiuGong Machinery Corporation  showcased six “innovative machines” at bC India including 835BSIII and 856BSIII wheeled loaders; 414BSIII motor grader; 920D excavator; 611H roller and the forklift model CPCD30.

All the machines are produced in LiuGong’s Pitampur plant near Indore, east of Mumbai, and meet Bharat Stage III emissions standards and are specifically adapted for the Indian market, making LiuGong among the first global manufacturers to deliver tier BSIII machines to the region.

“Wheeled loaders represent the pinnacle of our technical know-how,” says Sunil Sapru, president of LiuGong India.

Machines from the 364 Wirtgen Group’s four brands, Wirtgen , 1194 Vögele, 228 Hamm and 261 Kleemann, were on display while among models introduced to the Indian market were the new Wirtgen recycler/soil stabiliser WR 240; the new generation Vögele 2100 dash 3 paver, and the Kleemann crusher MC 110 R along with the Hamm HD99 tandem asphalt roller which is made at the company’s Indian facility.

Smiley Monroe was able to celebrate its one-year anniversary in India where it trades as Smiley Monroe Rubber & Allied Products (India).

Its new production facility is based in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, where it is starting to manufacture endless conveyor belts for customers in the India construction market.